In Vino Veritas
by Mintaka14
Summary: "Sano told me he loves me." "Isn't that what you wanted?" Dr Umeda asked. "But he thinks I'm a guy!" "You dress like a boy. You try to act like a boy. You came halfway around the world to go to an all-boys school. What did you think was going to happen?" Events in vol. 21 of the Hana Kimi manga take a slightly different turn after Sano's confession, and things get... heated. Lemon.


I am a huge fan of Hana Kimi, and can't get enough of Mizuki and Sano. This is my version of another possible way things might have gone after Sano confronts Mizuki in vol. 21 and confesses, and it's the first lemon fanfic I've ever published. All constructive comments and critiques are gratefully welcomed, so please let me know what you think.

In Vino Veritas

A Hana Kimi fanfiction

by Mintaka14

"What am I going to do?"

Mizuki let her head drop until it hit Dr Umeda's desk. She thumped her forehead on the wood a couple of times for good measure, and groaned.

"Sano told me he loves me."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Dr Umeda asked.

"But he thinks I'm a guy!"

"You dress like a boy. You try to act like a boy. You came halfway round the world to go to an all-boys school. What did you think would happen?"

Mizuki sighed. "Honestly? I didn't really think that far. I just wanted to meet Sano Izumi, the famous high jumper. What was the worst that could happen? I'd get caught and sent back home, it'd be worth it. And then we became room-mates, and friends, and that was more than I'd ever hoped for. And then I… I fell for him. Oh God, and now he's said he loves me, which means he's gay, and he's going to hate me when he finds out I'm really a girl." She buried her face in her arms and let out a muffled scream of frustration.

Dr Umeda poked her arm with a pen. "So what are you going to do?"

"Suck it up," she muttered into her arms. For a long moment, she stayed there with her head down, her eyes closed in the warm, dark little cave made by her sleeves, pretending the world didn't exist. Dr Umeda poked her arm again, and she ignored him.

"You can't stay here all day," he said drily. With a heavy sigh, Mizuki lifted her head.

"I know." She dragged her schoolbag out from under the chair and slowly got to her feet. "I got myself into this mess, so now I just have to live with it."

She headed back to her dorm room, and as she opened the door the crowd of teenage boys inside let out a cheer. Someone was cracking open a pack of beer, and it looked like it wasn't the first one of the evening. She closed her eyes briefly, and almost backed out again, but it was too late.

"Ashiya! You're just in time!" Someone belched, and there was another cheer. That was one thing that she'd never really got used to. Right on cue, someone else farted. Mizuki sighed.

"Mi-zu-ki."

Mizuki could feel the heat rushing to her face, her heartbeat sounding loud in her ears over the voice she knew better than her own. Izumi Sano raised his glass unsteadily to toast her.

Someone pulled her into the room and pushed an open bottle into her hand. She carefully put it down on the desk before it could spill. She picked her way through the crowd of loud bodies, and dodged Nishikado and Honda, who were either trying to hug each other or strangle each other, until she found an empty space on the opposite side of the room. As she slid down to the floor, she made the mistake of looking at Sano, who was still watching her.

Nakatsu dropped to the floor beside her.

"He really can't hold his drink, can he?"

Mizuki glared at him. "Then why did you let them give it to him? You know what he's like."

Nakatsu turned his head to look at Mizuki in surprise at the fierce note in her voice. "Hey, why blame me? It's not like I was the one who wanted to party." He shrugged. "They thought it'd be funny."

"I know, I know. Sano the kissing fiend." Mizuki hunched her shoulders. "So," she said after a moment, "who did he used to kiss when he got tanked?"

"Oh, anyone who got close enough. Nakao, Kayashima, me..." Nakatsu grinned. "One minute he's stone cold sober, the next he's grabbin' everyone and tellin' 'em 'I love you, man. I really love you.' "

Mizuki frowned. That didn't sound like what Sano had tried with her, the last time he'd been drunk.

"So, it's not... on the lips?" she asked.

Nakatsu snorted. "Jeez, do ya think we'd've let him do that? You've seen him pissed - didn't he grab you, too? It's just funny watchin' the Ice King gettin' all mushy."

"Ice King?"

"Yeah. He's usually so cold... Well, not cold, really, just... I dunno, reserved or somethin'."

"I don't know," Mizuki said, watching Sano on the other side of the room. "You've seen him jump, right? It's not just that he jumps high, it's the way he throws everything he has into it. I don't think anyone could do what he does if there wasn't a whole lot of passion under the surface..."

Nakatsu scowled. "Passion, huh? You seem to have thought an awful lot about Sano and passion," he said jealously, and Mizuki could feel her face turn hot. She looked away.

Beside her, Nakatsu heaved a big sigh. "As a man, I've decided. I'm gonna stand aside."

Mizuki turned back to him. "Huh?"

"You and Sano. I'm not gonna stand in your way."

"Nakatsu..."

"Besides," he said, less melodramatically. "It's obvious you're stuck on Sano, not me. I may be an idiot, but I'm not that stupid." He gave her a lopsided grin. "An' once Sano admits that he's gay, I bet he'll feel the same way about you. Who wouldn't? I was ready to give up women for you."

Mizuki drew a shaky breath. "But... Sano's not gay..."

Nakatsu snorted. "Are you kiddin'? I've never seen him even look at a girl, all the time we've been at Osaka together. And then there's how he gets when he's drunk - kissin' guys all over the place..."

"But you said it wasn't on the lips or anything," Mizuki tried, feeling the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Nakatsu patted her on the head. "Look, don't worry. I've seen how he looks at you when he thinks nobody's watchin'."

But he thinks I'm a guy! Mizuki wailed silently. She buried her head in her arms, and Nakatsu ruffled her hair. He thought he was being helpful.

"You don't got nothin' to worry about," he said gently, and pushed himself to his feet. "But if he ever makes you cry, you come to me, and I'll thump him for ya. And I'm gonna help you out. Operation Mizuki and Sano Together Forever!"

He gave Mizuki a thumbs up, and she groaned. As bad as his enthusiasm was, it would be infinitely worse trying to explain to a clueless Nakatsu in front of everyone why helping convince Sano he was in love with his roommate was such a bad idea. She could have laughed, if she hadn't felt so close to tears.

Nakatsu was telling everyone it was time to wrap it up, that Sano needed - and he winked broadly at Mizuki - to sleep it off. Mizuki groaned again. And now Nakatsu was unceremoniously hustling everyone out the door, and there was no one left but Sano and Mizuki.

Sano was staring thoughtfully into the bottom of his glass. The only thing that gave away how far gone he was was the glazed look in his dark eyes. Staying out of reach, she leaned closer. He was still focused on the glass, which he was now trying to push along the floor with one finger.

"Come on, hero," she sighed. "Time to sleep it off."

Sano seemed quiet and subdued, so Mizuki risked moving a little closer. She reached down, grabbing an arm to haul him to his feet. He wasn't moving. She grabbed the other arm and pulled, leaning into it. Suddenly, Sano stopped resisting and Mizuki slammed backwards against the bunk ladder, pulling him with her. She was trapped by his warm, solid weight.

"Sano," she said nervously, risking a look up at him. The glazed heat in his eyes was turned on her now. She tried to laugh and wiggle sideways, but his arm blocked her. His other hand touched her face.

"Sano," she tried again. She was finding it hard to think straight as his fingers slid down the side of her neck.

"I told you I loved you, and you keep dodging me." Sano's voice was blurred with beer and hurt. "If you don't feel the same, just tell me."

"Don't, Sano. This is the alcohol. You can't love me. You don't know me… you don't…"

"I know you," Sano said more forcefully. "I know the way you move, the sound of your voice. I know how you get so damn excited about everything, and the way you keep trying to watch horror movies even though they scare you silly. You taste like peach soda…" his lips brushed hers, feather-light, and she closed her eyes. "Sweet, and sort of… fizzy…" His hand slid lower, and before she knew what was happening, he was easing the zip on her sweater down.

She managed to lift one arm in a half-hearted effort to stop him.

"And I love you. Even if you don't love me back. I would love you even if you really were a boy."

Mizuki froze. She opened her eyes in disbelief.

"You knew," she breathed, staring up at Sano. "You bastard, you knew."

She smacked him in the chest with one hand, and Sano caught her wrist. He bent his head to kiss her palm, and the feel of his breath on her pulse short circuited her brain. Mizuki gave up trying to think.

His lips slid over her fingers.

"Tell me to stop," he whispered, but Mizuki had forgotten how to speak.

His hand was warm on the skin between her jeans and sweater, moving higher.

"If you want me to stop, tell me, and I will..." but she couldn't find the words and didn't want to and his hand curved over her breast and she whimpered a little, pulling him closer as she finally got a hold of his shirt.

Mizuki fumbled, trying to remember how to make her fingers work as Sano's hand did things to her, and her fevered skin felt suddenly cold as he leaned back and stripped his shirt off. Her sweater and vest were tangled around her arms, and Sano tugged on them to pull her close again, taking her mouth with his. His hands slid down the curve of her waist to her jeans, undid the button, slowly easing them down. She could hear his ragged breathing as he took her jeans off her, and her hands clenched in his hair.

They were pressed against each other, Sano's muscled chest hot against her breasts, his cock hard and swollen. His hands moved over her hip, curved down her thigh, slid between her legs. Mizuki saw starbursts, and moaned into his mouth.

"You feel so hot," he breathed. His fingers teased at the edge of her pants.

"Please," she begged, her legs parting, trying to get him closer. "Izumi, please…" She hardly noticed when Sano managed to get her sweater off and stripped off his own jeans. There was just the dizzy, feverish falling as he gently pushed her backwards into his bed, and she tugged him with her until they fell in a tangle of arms and legs. Her pants were gone, and his hands were everywhere, driving her crazy. Mizuki bit down on her lip, trying not to cry out as Sano's hand stroked between her legs. Her fingers dug into his broad, muscled shoulders, and she heard him gasp. Then his mouth was on hers again.

Slowly, with iron control, Sano eased himself into Mizuki. His breathing was ragged and hard. Mizuki closed her eyes, her whole world spiralling around the feeling of Sano moving inside her, winding her higher and higher. Suddenly, with a shudder, everything crashed through her and Mizuki cried out, burying the sound in Sano's shoulder as he gave a soft groan and collapsed. Her arms closed protectively around his warm weight, drained of all energy and limp with satisfaction. For many long heartbeats they lay there like that, wrapped in each other and too drained to move.

Someone thumped on their door.

"Ashiya? You okay?"

Mizuki tried to sit up quickly, but her arm was caught under Sano. Was the door locked?

"Fine!" she yelled in panic. "I just…" she tried to kick her brain into gear. "I just banged my toe. I'm fine!"

As she listened to the footsteps move away from the door, she felt Sano grin. "Well, you banged something," he muttered against her bare arm. She smacked him with her free hand.

"Don't be crude," she hissed. His grin got bigger as she glared down at him, but something in his expression shifted. Sano reached up to touch her face with gentle fingers.

"God, I love you," he whispered. Mizuki felt her breathing hitch.

"Izumi?"

His eyes were closed.

"Sano?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you too, you idiot," she breathed, but he was asleep. Mizuki sighed, and curled up against him.

Izumi Sano kept his eyes closed, trying to pretend that the room wasn't getting lighter as the sun rose outside. His head was pounding, and he decided he wasn't quite ready yet to see if he could handle getting out of bed, but his arm was beginning to prickle and he'd have to move it soon or lose any sense of feeling in it.

It occurred to him that the reason his arm was going numb was because it was caught under something. Sano cracked one reluctant eye open, and felt someone shift next to him, curling up against his side. Mizuki.

Sano tried to bring back his memory. He remembered the roof. He remembered bruising his hand as he smacked it into the wall, and almost shouting that he loved her, and the stricken look in Mizuki's eyes. He could remember watching her freeze, and run, every time he walked into the room. And he could remember Sekime handing him that first bottle of beer, and how much he wanted to just drown everything for once, and not think about how badly he'd stuffed it up with Mizuki.

Everything after that was one vague blur of sound and movement and every hot, aching dream he'd had since she'd first crashed into his life.

Those heated memories had to be wishful dreams, right?

That was definitely warm flesh cuddled up against him, and a small hand on his bare chest. Very warm flesh. In spite of his hangover, Sano sat up abruptly, and Mizuki woke up with a start as he jerked his arm free.

Sleepy dark eyes peered up at him from behind a rough tangle of short brown curls. Sano could see her slowly figuring out where she was, and a blush crept over her. The part of him that wasn't panicking was interested to notice that she blushed all over, and she tucked the blanket closer around herself, shifting away from him. Sano found himself uncomfortably aware of the curves hidden under the blanket.

" 'Morning," she said softly. Sano swallowed, and ground the heel of his hand into his forehead, hoping to push back the headache that was exploding now behind his eyes. He risked another look at her. That smile of hers faltered, her eyes growing wide with something that might have been uncertainty or dismay.

"What ..." Sano broke off, and tried again. "How did..." That wasn't working any better. "What happened?" he asked finally.

"You don't remember?"

Through the haze of his headache, scraps of memory were prodding at him, but surely he wouldn't have… couldn't have…

"You got a little drunk," Mizuki told him, tracing a finger through the folds of the blanket. She wasn't looking at him. "You told me you knew I was ... that I'm... I'm..."

"A girl?" Sano offered grimly.

"Yeah."

Sano found himself looking around at the clothes scattered across the floor. His shirt, her jeans. So that part was real, the bit where he remembered taking her jeans off. He closed his eyes. The last clear memory he had, before the beer, was that deer-in-the-headlights look before she turned and ran from him. How had she ended up here in his bed, with that same look in her eyes? What had he done?

"Oh god, Mizuki. I… did… Did I… force you?" Sano felt sick at the thought, and now Mizuki was staring at him, her eyes widening in horror.

"No! Sano, god no, you would never hurt me," she insisted, dropping the blanket she was clutching. "You kept asking me if I… if I wanted you to stop. I knew you were drunk, maybe I should have said no, but…" A fierce blush was flooding her face, and her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper "… I didn't want you to stop."

Sano dropped his face into his hands, exhausted with relief.

"Sano?"

He looked up at Mizuki, who was twisting her fingers together with that look in her eyes again.

"Should I have stopped you?" she asked in a very small voice, and Sano took a deep breath.

"You never answered me, you know," he said carefully. "Do you love me?"

In the infinitesimal pause it felt like his whole world had stopped turning, waiting for her answer.

"Of course I love you, you dope. Do you seriously think that I would have come all this way, and pretended to be a boy, and put up with all those fart jokes, and… and… slept with you, if I didn't?"

"Then why did you keep running away from me?" he asked in exasperation. That blush turned fiery red.

Finally, she muttered down at her clasped hands, "I thought it meant you were gay. I thought it would ruin everything when I told you the truth, and you'd hate me for lying to you."

Sano made a sound that might have been a sigh, or a groan, and caught at her wrist, pulling her off-balance into his lap.

"Sano!" she protested, and he cut her off with a kiss.

He finally came up for air, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Truth, lies, girl, boy. Doesn't matter, as long as it's you," he said. "I'll take you any way I can get you."

And Mizuki giggled.

"Don't be crude," she told him, and pulled him back into bed.


End file.
